Boromir wandered around lost, never had he seen such opulence before. Then suddenly she was there, looking like a lost child in all of the chaos. Her brown hair was held from her face very loosely; the gown she wore was of a deep blue velvet, but simple in ornamentation.

Shoving his way through the crowd he tried to get to her, knowing if he did he would find something, an answer, more questions. Who knew, all he knew was that getting to her would be some turning point for him. The other occupants of the ballroom jeered at him, he thought he saw his father out of the corner of his eye, laughing at him and pointing out his failure.

"You failed in your quest. What sort of Steward of Gondor would you make?"

Boromir tried to close out the hurtful words that stung at his heart. Tears were beginning to flow down his face, his emotional walls were tumbling down, and all he could think to do was to reach the girl, who was still unaware of his presence.

"Failure," all the voices hissed at him.

Anne-Marie looked around the ballroom, she felt slightly at unease in its rich atmosphere. Her eyes quickly darted around the room, giving her even more cause to fear, all of the people were dancing and laughing, but nothing seemed fun about the ball.

She pulled her eyes back to the table which she stood by. She shifted from foot to foot nervously, trying to will away the noise of the crowd, but never quite succeeding. She felt some one grab at her arm; turning to face whomever had presumed to touch her she looked into a pair of intense eyes.

A firm jaw and dirty blond hair, almost as long as her own, were other features that she took to heart. He was a good head taller than her, and dressed richly, as a prince, but no crown was upon his head, not that one would have been ill fitted there.

"Dance with me?" he whispered out, almost in a cry of pain.

Anne-Marie nodded mutely, unsure of what else to do, unlike the other occupants of the room, she held no fear for this forward stranger. She curtseyed to him and slipped her hands into his.

Norma and Puck blinked into existence at the other end of the room, where the Goblin King stood observing. They waltzed over to the monarch and smiled.

"Well, I see not all of you are completely ignorant of the customs of my

Labyrinth. Your friends have been having quite a time."

"Uncle J, really, is this necessary?"

"My game, my rules, as I said before dear."

Puck shrugged and took Norma's hand, leading her to the dance floor. Once again in Puck's arms Norma felt some of her ire at her fairy-god-father slip away.

"Don't worry, once we get close enough to them, we should be able to jolt them back to reality, it will be ok."

"I know, but"

"Shh," Puck silenced Norma's worries with a kiss, ever careful to move them closer to the other couple.

Boromir smiled, for once he had succeeded, he had won a dance from the girl.

The chant of failure' had subsided to the faintest whisper in the back of his mind. It all but vanished when her hand came up to his face, cupping his cheek; he leaned into it, accepting the warmth she was giving him, her fingers playing idly with his hair.

Anne-Marie pulled in closer to the man she was dancing with, his heat radiating around her like a shield, protecting her from the insanity of the ballroom. His hair wound tightly around her fingers anchored her to him, his hand on her waist anchoring him to her.

Boromir took her hand from his hair and brought it to his lips, kissing the inside of her wrist tenderly, bringing a glow to her cheeks. He leaned down, leaning his forehead on hers. Both of them closed their eyes and savored the moment, blond hair mingling with dark brown.

"You make me feel safe," she whispered, her breath caressing his lips.

"I have done nothing for you, yet I know I would do anything" he stooped lower, his mouth teasing hers. Anne-Marie was pulled back to the world, a familiar laugh rung out near by.